(1) Field of Invention
The present invention pertains to a mobile telephone equipped with an incoming call indicator lamp, a camera, and a camera flash; in particular, the present invention concerns a mobile telephone employing light emitting diode(s) (hereinafter simply “LED(s)”) as incoming call indicator lamp and camera flash.
(2) Conventional Art
Examples of conventional mobile telephones include a mobile telephone having a built-in camera which is manufactured by Toshiba Corp. for J-PHONE (an abbreviation of J-PHONE Co., Ltd.), and while this mobile telephone is supplied with a flash, the form which this takes is such that the flash must be attached externally to a location provided on the mobile telephone body for connection of a headphone.
Furthermore, another example of a conventional mobile telephone is a mobile telephone provided by cdmaOne (a digital mobile telephone service provided by DDI Cellular Group and IDO), digital cameras for this mobile telephone including a digital camera manufactured by Kyocera Corp. To be used, this digital camera must be connected to an interface of the mobile telephone, neither the camera nor the flash being built into the mobile telephone body.
Neither the flash supplied with the foregoing mobile telephone having built-in camera which is manufactured by Toshiba Corp. for J-PHONE nor the flash of the digital camera for the mobile telephone provided by cdmaOne is implemented through use of LED(s).
Furthermore, examples of devices employing LEDs as light emitting elements include the photographic apparatus and pictorial communication apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication Kokai No. H11-112953 (1999). In this photographic apparatus and pictorial communication apparatus, LED viewing angle is narrowed through provision of a convex lens to the front of the LED, and confirmation is carried out with respect to whether a photographic subject is present within the photographable range thereof.
Because the aforementioned conventional mobile telephones are such that a flash must be attached externally thereto or a digital camera equipped with camera and flash must be connected thereto, there has been the problem that the user must, separately from the mobile telephone, also carry a flash or a digital camera about with him or her.
Furthermore, in accordance with the method for using a lens at the photographic apparatus and pictorial communication apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication Kokai No. H11-112953 (1999), there has been the problem that use of a lens to narrow LED viewing angle has made it difficult for light from the LED to be made to fill the entire field angle of the camera, and there has been the problem of inability to achieve uniform LED illuminance within the field angle of the camera.